Prevalence of hepatitis C infection among general practice patients in theLyon area, France

Study objective: To estimate the prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infe ction among patients in general practices. Design and Participants: A scree ning campaign requested by the French Health Insurance Fund and involving 2 71 general practitioners (GPs) and 96% of the 95 medical laboratories was c onducted in the Lyon area. Each GP participated for one week and offered an HCV screening to all patients aged 18-69 years during this period. Risk fa ctors were estimated by a medical questionnaire (MQ) filled in by the physi cian. Main results: From May to October 1997, 11,805 subjects were recruite d into the study. Among them, 101 were known HCV positive. The MQ was fille d up in 86% of the 11,704 remaining patients. Only 59% of those (6876/11,70 4) went to a laboratory to be tested. Fifty-one were ELISA positive of whom 30 were confirmed by RIBA or PCR. If we add 101 patients that were known H CV positive and estimate the prevalence among patients who did not go to th e laboratory, this study gives a total estimated prevalence of 1.3%. Conclu sions: The prevalence of HCV infection among patients of GPs is about 1.3%, very close to the estimate in the French general population. The substanti al number of patients known HCV positive is probably related to the partici pation of GPs sensitised to HCV issues and who already have screened most o f their HCV patients.